A lecture held at the European Social Forum on the soon to be published book Common Wealth (with co-author Antonio Negri) reviewing the history of alterglobalisation movements, analysing features of metropolitan struggles, the possibilities of revolutionary transition and also the role of joy and laughter in politics and the movement.

Self-management aims, not only for changing state organization and the functioning of economic units, but also at completely new and different kinds of relationships between individuals and social groups. It could become an influential concept, even without the involvement of political parties, or despite their propaganda. Society must be organized horizontally and not vertically, in order to lay down the requirements for self-management, and vice versa: only self-organization in social struggles can act as a basis for horizontal social organization.

The social geographer presents a historic retrospective on the alternative, green or community currencies in Hungary. Is it a nice fit to the Washington Consensus or a promise of a radical civic society or maybe the revival or earlier mutual help forms? How is this seen by participants, what can we learn from the experience?

The perestroika announced by Gorbachev and the – also opaque meaning – change by Obama although designed to solve problems of very different societies and economies but still have parallel features. Both can be associated with forced reforms: with an obvious result concerning perestroika but with hardly a beginning of Obama's change.

According to the article launching our new column the systemic change in Hungary made a historic turn-point changing the character of theatre life. It appeared as the object of aesthetics but also as an aspect of the structured complexity of theatre and society.